Okay! I'll admit it. I know that recycling is not going to go away.
I know there is much that MUST be recycled every single day.
And there are many things that have yet
to be recycled that need to be added to the list.
And... buying recycled items is VERY important.

I get it. All I am asking everyone to do is:

RETHINK - RETHINK - RETHINK! There are so many ways to help without
being so deeply dependent on recycling.

FIRST - REDUCE

REDUCE consumption. Rethink priorities. Do we need this or that "thing" in the first place. When we must make a purchase - can we find it used?

Consignment shops have flourished in recent years. Garage sales are everywhere. And...we are putting money into our own community, too.

Buy things that are durable whenever possible. If we buy
junk, cheaply made "throw-away" furniture made of particle board, we are buying
space in a landfill in the not too distant future. Buy used if possible and look for solid, sturdy stuff.

We need to shift to more sustainable purchases.We need to rethink.

SECOND - REUSE

REUSE stuff. This is easy. Simply Rethink everything we see in stores. Especially grocery stores - anything that is a single use, must be avoided.

Here's my favorite example: A shampoo bottle. If you have an opportunity to RE-fill your shampoo bottle at your local hairdresser or health food store you must do it. Really.

This plastic bottle can be refilled for years and years and save dozens and dozens of containers from being manufactured! Imagine what would happen if we all did just this one act alone! imagine how much plastic would no longer re-melted (less chemicals in our air!), re-formed and re-distributed.

And by the way... how much fuel is used to transport the average plastic shampoo bottle? We bring it home. We, or a curbside recycling firm, take it to a recycling center. Then it travels to a place to be shredded (using energy) and might even then be sold as raw stock and be shipped again to a bottle manufacturer (using energy to form new bottles). It's not over yet! Next (are you starting to see how bizarre recycling can be?) it has to go the brand plant to get filled with shampoo again. Not done yet! Gotta ship it to the stores. Wow!

Just think. By RETHINKING we can stop being a part of all that carbon waste. Make a list of things you can refill or reuse. Start rethinking what other containers can be RE-used. We can make a difference when we get off the recycling merry-go-round.

THIRD - recycle (only if you must).

This step is the lowest priority in the bid to be a better participant in mending our planet. The more time we spend doing the First and Second stages of this triad, the less we even need to recycle.

Let's STOP recycling things we didn't need in the first place.If you
buy bottled water for your staff or clients (or your home!) and that plastic goes into
a recycling bin at the end of a single use, you must rethink if
"recycling" is doing anyone any good at all. If you can't come up with an alternative in your situation to bottled water or styrofoam cups, please email me. Let's put our heads together.

Consider This!Everything we purchase, every dollar we spend,
is an investment in something.

If we buy crappy, cheaply constructed "throw-away" furniture made of particle board - we are buying space in a landfill in the not too distant future.

If we compound that by buying furniture - or any stuff - that was made for pennies a day by slave/child labor shops,

we just made their lives worth pennies a day.

And we made the owner of the shop and CEO of the company very, very rich, happy, and dependent on us remaining unthinking, unconscious, consumers.